Marshall averts sweep, knocks off error-plagued UTSA, 5-2

SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA Roadrunners didn’t play like a first-place team Sunday.

The Marshall Thundering Herd took advantage of four UTSA errors and posted a 5-2 victory over the Conference USA co-leaders.

In the finale of a three-game C-USA series at Roadrunner Field, Marshall broke from a 1-1 tie by scoring two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the seventh to take a 5-1 lead.

The Roadrunners (24-12, 10-5) rallied with a solo home run from RJ Perucki in the eighth but couldn’t sustain the momentum.

As a result, the Roadrunners settled for a 2-1 series victory against the Thundering Herd (14-20, 8-9), from Huntington, W.Va.

UTSA entered the day tied with Alabama-Birmingham for first in the conference.

“You got to come to play every day and we just got off on the wrong foot,” UTSA coach Jason Marshall said. ”Thank goodness that’s the exception and not the rule, the way we played defense today.”

UTSA toted a .973 fielding percentage into Sunday’s play, a number that is tied for third in the conference.

But in a game that started at 10:30 a.m., the UTSA infield made an error in the third and two more in the fifth that led to three unearned runs against starting pitcher Justin Anderson.

“You’re not going to win a lot of games, allowing the opponent (extra chances), just fueling the rallies for them,” Marshall said. ”That was really the key to the day. We only walked one guy. Justin Anderson gave us a chance to win, threw strikes.

“We weren’t ready to play on the defensive side of the game,” the coach added. ”It doesn’t matter what sport you’re playing, if you don’t do that, you’re probably not setting yourself up for success.”

The Roadrunners play next on Tuesday night at home when they host the Interstate-35 rival Texas State Bobcats.

UTSA will return to conference play this weekend in Norfolk, Va., at Old Dominion. The Roadrunners and Monarchs will kick off a three-game series on Friday.